Marine toilet



Oct. 16, 1962 G. J. DANKo 3,058,121

MARINE TOILET Filed Aug. 6, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l HKV? a O A" 56 A I l INVENTOR George J Dan/ro ATTORNEYS G. J. DANKO MARINE TOILET Oct. 16, 1962 2 SheetsfSheet 2 Filed Aug. 6, 1959 zNvENToR J Danko ATTORNEYS George United States Patent O 3,058,121 MARINE TOILET George J. Danko, Glenmar Park, Md. (5219 Sangamore Road, Washington 16, D.C.) Filed Aug. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 831,987 3 Claims. (Cl. 4-77) This invention relates to a marine toilet, and more particularly to a marine toilet for use on small craft where the toilet is to be placed at or close to the water line of Ithe craft.

Marine toilets presently available have many and varied systems for providing outside water for flushing the toilet. However, most off them involve a relatively expensive and heavy pumping arrangement, operated either by hand or by power, and in addition, because of their relative complexity and the necessity of pumping the etlluent through a valve arrangement, are not completely reliable in their operation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a marine toilet which is extremely simple both in construction and operation, and yet which is light in weight and inexpensive to make.

Itis a further object of the present invention to provide a marine toilet which can be installed on a small craft at or near the water line, and which can be actuated by hand to flush the toilet and draw outside water into the toilet for llushing purposes without the necessity of repeatedly actuating a pump handle.

Other and further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and claims taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view, partly in section, of a preferred embodiment of the marine toilet according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view, also partly in section, of the embodiment of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG. l;

FIG. 4 is a detail, partly in section, of sealing means for the cover and seat;

FIG. 5 is a detail view of the valve mechanism for the marine toilet; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional View taken on line 6-6 of FIG. l.

As shown in the drawings, the device comprises a bowl 10 having an outlet 10a and mounted on a valve casing 11. Pivotally mounted in the valve casing is a valve member 12 which is made of a valve plate 13 on which is positioned a rubber disc 14. The rubber disc is held in place by a top assembly washer 15 and an assembly screw 16 passing therethrough and through the rubber disc 14 and the valve plate 13, the assembly screw having an assembly nut thereon. Secured to the valve plate 13 is valve mounting plate 17 which has ears 17a thereon which are bent back upon themselves and secured at adjacent corners of the valve plate. A handle end 18 extends through the bent back ears 17a to form a shaft on which the valve mounting plate 17 pivots, and screws 1S' extend through the bent back ears 17a to hold the handle end 18 in place in the ears.

Thev valve mounting plate 17 ts over the end of the assembly screw 16 and is held thereon by the bottom assembly washer 21 and the cotter pin 22.

The valve casing 11 has a lateral recess 11a therein into which the valve member swings when it is pivoted. In addition, it has a handle end recess 11b into which the end of the handle end 18 is rotatably fitted, and aligned with this recess in the wall of the valve casing 11 is a handle hole 11e which has an enlarged and threaded outer end. The handle end 18 extends through the handle hole 11C and is bent at an angle to form valve handle 24. A threaded gland 23 is fitted around the ice handle end 18 where it is bent and is threaded into the enlarged threaded end 11d of the handle hole 11c to hold a packing 23a therein. A biasing spring 25 is also mounted on the handle end 18 and biases the handle shaft 18 in a direction to move valve member 12 toward the bowl, and it also urges the threaded gland 23 into the enlarged outer end of the hole 11C.

As shown in the drawings, the lower end of the bowl 10 is formed as a valve seat 26, and a flange 27 is provided on the lower end of the bowl adjacent to the valve seat, which flange is mounted on the valve casing 11 with a rubber gasket 28 between the flange and the valve casing. It will thus be seen lthat the valve member, valve seat and spring form a valve means for the outlet of the bowl spring urged toward the closed position.

Of course other constructions are possible. The valve seat 26 could be on the valve casing and the lower end of the bowl 10 could merely have the flange thereon. Any other similar mounting of the valve member which permits it to swing downwardly Vinto the laterally extending recess 11a under the action of a handle would be satisfactory. Likewise other biasing arrangements could be provided.

Moreover, other equivalent valve means, such as a petcock type valve, would serve equally as well. However, a spring loaded valve is preferred.

Around the upper edge of the bowl 10 is an upper sealing edge 29 which extends outwardly and upwardly from the upper edge of the bowl. Hinged to the upper sealing edge 29 is a seat 30, which is mounted on a seat hinge 31 and held thereon by seat holding screws 32. The hinge 31 is rotatably mounted in the upwardly extending part 29a of the upper sealing edge 29. Also hinged to the upper sealing edge 29 of the bowl 10 is a cover ring 33 having a downwardly extending ange 33a on the outer periphery thereof. Lugs 46 are mounted on the upper sealing edge 29 and extend outwardly and upwardly therefrom, and lugs 47 extend outwardly `from the downwardly extending ange 33a of the cover ring 33, and hinge pins 48 rotatably join the ends of the lugs, thereby providing the hinge mounting for the cover ring.

Around the inside of the cover ring 33 on the downwardly facing surface thereof is a sealing gasket 34 having a U-shaped cross section, this sealing gasket engaging with the upwardly extending portion 29a of the upper sealing edge 29 on the bowl 10, these elements constituting sealing means forming a seal between the cover and the bowl when the cover is down.

Beneath the cover ring 33 is a retaining ring 35, and between the cover ring and the retaining ring is the edge of a hemispherical diaphragm 36 of a exible resilient material, such as rubber. The edge of the diaphragm is bolted in place between the cover ring 33 and the `retaining -ring 35 by bolts and nuts 35a and 35b. At the top of the ydiaphragm 36 is a handle 37, and extending through the handle is a pipe 38, which is threaded on the inner end and has a washer 39 and a nut 40 thereon, holding the handle to the diaphragm.

Mounted on the cover ring 33 diametrically opposite the hinged connection of the cover ring to the bowl is a cove-r ring latch 41. This latch consists of a handle loop 42, legs 43 extending laterally from the loopI 42, and ends 43a bent in a direction perpendicular to the plane of handle loop 42 and then inwardly. Straps 44 are attached to the cover ring 33 by screws 45, and the laterally extending legs 42a pass therethrough and are rotatable therein.

To operate the device, with the bowl full of Water, the cover ring 33 is turned ydown onto the bowl '10, and the cover ring latch 41 is turned to cause the downwardly and inwardly bent ends 43a to engage under the upper sealing edge 29 of the bowl, thus causing the sealing gasket 34 to be pressed into sealing engagement with the upwardly extending portion 29a of the upper sealing edge 29. The handle 37 is then grasped and the thumb placed over the end of the pipe 38. The valve handle 24 is then moved to open the valve member 12 by swinging it downwardly into the laterally extending recess 11a, and with the valve member A12 in this position, the hemispherical diaphragm 36 is pushed down into the position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. Because the air entrapped within the hemispherical diaphragm cannot escape, it forces the water in the bowl l() through the valve at the bottom of the :bowl and out through the bottom of the boat on which the toilet is mounted. With the valve handle 24 still held so as to have the valve member 12 in the recess 11a, the hemispherical diaphragm is drawn up to its original position. Since the pipe 38 is closed, and air cannot enter through the pipe, water is drawn through the valve into the bowl 10. When the bowl is full, the valve handle 24 is released, permitting the spring 25 to return the valve member 12 to the closed position. The toilet is then ready for use simply by turning the cover ring latch 41 to release the cover and permitting it to be raised so as to gain access to the seat 30.

It will be appreciated that because the device works on a difference in air pressure, it cannot be located so far above the water line of the boat that the hernispherical diaphragm cannot draw water up into the bowl, nor so far below the water line that the water cannot be pumped out of the rbowl by the diaphragm against the pressure of the water outside the boat. However, in most small craft, the toilet will be located suiciently close to the water line so that no such diliculties will be encountered.

There has thus been provided an extremely simple yet completely reliable marine toilet. There is only a simple valve member in the flow line between the bowl and the water, which valve member is completely out of the ow path of fluids during the operation of the toilet. Thus there can be no fouling of the parts during operation. No pump is necessary, the hemispherical diaphragm being the pumping means. be made very inexpensively, yet will be completely reliable in operation, will be easily maintained, and can be made extremely lightweight.

It is thought that the invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it is apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacricing its material advantages, the form hereinbefore The entire device can thus v described and illustrated in the drawings being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

l. A marine toilet comprising a bowl member with an axis through the center of the bowl and having an outlet opening in the bottom thereof opening axially out of the bowl member, a valve plate pivotally mounted on the bottom of said bowl member in the outlet thereof for closing said outlet and spring urged toward a closed position and pivotable out of said outlet, a cover ring member hinged to and engageable over said bowl member, sealing means on one of said members sealingly engageable with the other of said members, a exible diaphragm secured to Said cover ring member, and easily releasable securing means on one of said members engageable with the other member for securing said cover ring member in sealing engagement with said bowl member.

2. A marine toilet comprising a bowl member with an axis through the center of the bowl and having an outlet extending axially through the bottom thereof, a valve casing on said bowl member over said outlet, a handle pivotally mounted in said valve casing, a valve plate on said handle and pivotable over said outlet, a spring on said handle and attached to said valve casing and urging said handle to the position in which said valve plate is over said outlet, the bottom edge of said bowl member forming a seat for said valve plate, a cover ring pivoted on one side of said bowl member, a U-shaped cross section sealing ring on said cover ring, said bowl member having an upwardly extending sealing edge thereon with which said sealing ring is engageable, a hemispherieal cxible diaphragm secured to said cover ring, and a cover ring latch on the other side of said cover ring engageable with said sealing edge for holding said cover ring in sealing engagement with said bowl member.

3. A marine toilet as claimed in claim 2 in which said cover ring latch comprises a pair of oppositely extending legs, a handle loop from which said legs extend, and leg ends extending perpendicularly to said legs and then parallel to said legs, said latch being pivotably mounted on said cover ring, said leg ends extending beneath said bowl sealing edge when said latch is pivoted.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 498,751 Ogden May 30, 1893 717,651 Allen Jan. 6, 1903 2,449,441 Agra Sept. 14, 1948 2,886,826 Shaleen May 19, 1959 

